Vice President's Secretariat
Text of the Vice-President’s Address at the Inauguration of the Centenary Celebrations of Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University, Nagpur 
My greetings to everyone present here!
Before I reflect on Nagpur, the epicenter of nationalism, I must tell you that every visit to Nagpur has been inspirational, motivational and energizing, this one is unique and different. I am grateful to Sh. Nitin Gadkari ji for making this opportunity available to me.
It has been indicated that Nagpur is known for oranges and it is also known for tigers. Two of the tigers are present here on the stage. Their spinal strength has been seen by one and all. But one tiger makes my task in Rajya Sabha difficult. When he rises to answer a question, I am in great difficulty. Every member of the House wants to ask questions not as a complainant but with hope and aspirations; this happened yesterday. A man of action, a man of belief in vision of execution. As luck would have it, all my visits to Nagpur so far have been with Gadkari ji at the centre of it.
Honorable Sh. Ramesh Bais ji, I share one thing in common with him, he was elected to the Parliament for the first time in 1989, I was elected in the same year. I was a part of the ruling dispensation, and I was a Union Minister. He continued to be a Member of Parliament till 2019, his number of years in Parliament is twice the number of months I spent in Parliament. Ramesh ji and myself have been Governor at a time together. He is enormously talented and committed to his job.
The Honorable Governor told me that it is his mission to see that there is greater connectivity with the outside world also. In this regard, Nitin ji told me that I happen to be Chairman of Indian Council of World Affairs , and we must sign an MOU with this university within one month. Nitin ji wanted a shorter time, but the problem was that the Director, ICWA is abroad. Nitin Gadkari ji is known in and out of the country only for his accomplishments, achievements, changing our landscape, generating hope, employment and most importantly overcoming hurdles with innovation. You must have seen the movie Guru, when the great industrialist was given the time of five minutes, he concluded in four and a half minutes and said जो आधा मिनिट बचा है यही फायदा है। नितिन जी की वजह से जहा भी देश में सड़को पर जाते हैं.. समय बचता है, वोही फायदा है।.
Friends, I was always a topper, that was the time we had Polson butter, so whenever I was in the company of my teachers, some students from behind used to murmur Polson…Polson, because one had to be on the right side of the teacher.
I must greet and salute Hon’ble justice Vikas Budhwar Ji, I had the occasion to appear before him once, which is memorable. A man of incisive clarity. I come from a village, those who come from modest backgrounds don't make their presence felt immediately but in the profession, I have been extremely lucky, I was designated senior advocate in 11 years of my practice, headed the High Court Bar, at the age of 34 in Bar Council. I used to appear only in one case a day. I can never forget the 3 minutes in court when the learned Judge said, "You have only three minutes", I said, "My lord, only 2 minutes". And mind you the graph was so effective, the others had no answer, my salutations to him.
Honorable members of this august assembly at this historic occasion, I can tell you that this is a delightful moment for me. A moment I will cherish. I am honoured and privileged to be associated with such an educational institution, whose alumni have made the nation proud and contributed for public welfare extensively.
Honorable members of this assembly, I would agree with the previous speakers, transformational change is brought about only by education. It is education that can make a difference, universities are living entities of sublime ideas and ideals. They remain alive eternally in our progress and achievements. We have had universities in our country like Takshashila and Nalanda which have made India a Vishwa Guru. These institutions are eternal in our collective national memories.
I know the government of the day is taking many initiatives and has put in place several policies that allow full unleashing of your talent, potential, and energy to achieve your ideals, aspirations and dreams. I would speak from this platform; it is time for our industries in particular to nurture our institutions. I am slightly concerned when leaders of the industry give astronomical sums of money to outside universities. We must believe in our nationalism and ensure that our first priority is our nation, our nationalism, our institutions.
Just imagine we have somebody in our country, who is given a Nobel Prize and we give 5 million USD from the government to a foreign university. Imagine a big house of this country gives 50 million USD to a foreign university. I know their intentions are not mala fide, they are acting in a proper manner; but time has come when we must do everything to nurture our own institutions. It is in this country we will have Takshashila, Nalanda. No where in the world you will find the kind of faculty which is in our country. If you go all over the globe, you will find, the top corporate houses are having at their apex level, Indian Minds.
That being the situation, I would make two important suggestions, for consideration of the faculty and my young friends, boys and girls. One, economic nationalism cannot be compromised on fiscal considerations. This is a very serious matter in this country, क्या दिया, कैंडल, पतंग, फर्नीचर, ऐसी चीजें बाहर की आइंगी? क्या हम उनको import करेंगे क्योंकि वह सस्ती हैं? Trade, industry and business have to be extremely sensitive to this. This will help our country greatly. This can be achieved only by citizens awakening themselves. This effort has to emanate from each and every one of you. And second, reckless use of natural resources can't be permitted. No one has a right to use energy, gas, petrol, or water because he or she can afford it. Your pocket cannot determine how much you have to use. There has to be optimal utilisation of natural resources. That is our bounden duty.
Let me tell you friends, I am an admirer of Gadkari ji for the reason: he finds solutions by innovation and out of the box approach, that is why you will find in roads, he has developed utilisation of material that otherwise were causing huge problems to us in our growth history.
Look at the time when this university was established, look at the challenges that were around and traversing 100 years, is absolutely a journey most memorable, fructifying our aspirations, making us proud every moment. I felicitate all previous Vice Chancellors, the present team and the alumni.
One idea that I have been cherishing for a long time, alumni of our institutions are natural think-tanks, they can contribute massively for growth of the nation. They can contribute to policy formulation. So, I have given an idea, for consideration of academicians, and those who are at the helm of institutions. Let us have a Federation of Alumni Associations, if there is a structured body that has alumni from institutions like yours, IITs, IIMs, and when they converge on a point view, then two results will be there, one, they will help government policies massively. Second, they will get an opportunity to structure and give back to the society, and give back to their Alma Mater. If they give fiscal assistance to Alma Mater, make available avenues to the students of Alma Mater, they will be contributing to societal upliftment that will be a great national service.
Friends, after more than three decades, the country came to have a new National Education Policy, it is a game changer, it has taken note of our civilizational ethos. It has reduced that part of education which was dragging the students, it has become skill and aptitude oriented. It allows you flexibility and in the evolution of the policy, I am personally aware by being Governor at that time in the state of West Bengal, that inputs were secured from all stakeholders. This policy is already showing results. From this platform I appeal to some of the States: for the reasons that cannot be rationalized, who have not adopted this policy to take a proactive step and end injustice to the students. Please immediately adopt the National Education Policy.
I tell my young students, when I was a student, difficulties were there, it was very difficult at that time, when you pass out of a university or college and take a leap in the larger world, you will not have shortage of resources. I was enrolled as an advocate and wanted Rs 6000, to have a library of my own. I still remember vividly, the bank manager of a Nationalized bank who gave me the loan without security. Look at the big change that has taken place now. Money is no consideration; you have to have an idea in your mind; you have to think out of the box. You have to take initiative and that is why India can take pride in the number of startups we have, number of unicorns we have; we are an envy of the world for those achievements. The historic achievements that the nation has attained under visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the world is stunned. I'll give you three illustrations. In 2022, we had digital transfers to the extent of 150 trillion US dollars and those transfers constitute 46% of global transactions. Those transfers are four times the combined transfer by digital mechanism in the US, UK, France and Germany. Could you believe it? Look at our achievement to that extent- four times!
The Indian mind is genius. Even if there is no education, we are quick to learn and that is why we have a fleet of 850 million smartphone owners and over 700 million internet users. Look at the per capita data consumption on the internet. In 2022, per capita data consumption of the internet by our citizens was more than that of the USA and China taken together. That's a great achievement.
We must take pride and look at the other angle. When it came to world economic status, we were in double digits, just a decade ago. We could never imagine where we will be. But in September 2022, came a gratifying moment, a historic moment. Bharat became the fifth largest global economy on the earth, and what an achievement! In the process, we overtook our erstwhile colonial rulers, the UK, and by turn of the decade, no one has doubt that India will be the third largest global economy.
Those who are in the audience, some of us may not be around in 2047 when India will celebrate centenary of its independence, but you will be at the helm of affairs. My young friends, Boys and Girls, you are warriors of Bharat at 2047!
You will make the difference. You will ensure that at that time, Bharat will be Vishwa Guru and we will be number one economy of the world. And why not? Our past is proof of it. Look at institutions- Nalanda, Takshashila, look at our global participation in the economy. Look at our economy then, it was the centre of the world and we were number one. That will happen for sure. And I have no doubt about it.
There can be no better place than Nagpur to put my concern and my concern is, can we allow just anyone- untenably, irrationally, without basis- to taint, tarnish, demean, insult our Constitutional institutions? When the entire world takes India, and IMF indicates it in categorical terms that India or Bharat is the favorite destination of Investment and Opportunity? Some of us want to muddy that pudding. Some of us want to give the other point of view.
Friends, time has come when we must do everything as individuals to neutralize anti-Indian narratives. And you know why it is happening? India never had that kind of global prestige, reputation and standing that it has now. Never ever in the history before an Indian Prime Minister commanded so much respect as Shri Narendra Modi has done. Take the case of his US visit when he was addressing the legislature there- Congress and Senate- he said two things i.e. Artificial Intelligence and when he said the next thing, America and India, the entire house there spontaneously greeted him, because that is the situation. Both countries are democracies. We are the mother of democracy. We are the oldest democracy. No country in the world has constitutionally structured democracy as Bharat has. Our Constitution provides for democracy at Village level, at Panchayat level, at Zila Parishad level. Democratic values blossom and flourish now in our country. But I put thought for your consideration. Our country is democratic and, in a democracy, no one is above law. Everyone has to be subservient to law. You may be from any clan or the family, you may be of any stature, the law has to take its own course. But surprisingly, when law takes its own course, people take to the streets. Can that be countenanced? Can that be overlooked?
If one is being visited with consequence in law, as per law, the only recourse is to avail the robust judicial system our country has. And our robust judicial system is highly independent. There can be no doubt about it. I therefore appeal to all of you, particularly my young friends, to generate an ecosystem where such kinds of tendencies are dealt with and neutralized. They are not in the interest of the nation.
Friends, what we are seeing all around now, is something which we never dreamt. We never thought of. It was beyond our imagination. The Honorable Governor and I were Members of Parliament in 1989. We had one power in our hands, 50 gas connections and that 50 gas connections was our power. We could in a year, give 50 gas connections to anyone we like. Imagine the ground reality today. 170 million gas connections are given to needy families and everyone has it. A big change has taken place.
Everyone in the world, let me tell you- COVID was tackled in this country by most imaginative mechanism of the Prime Minister. In a country, as large as ours, as diversified as ours, with all political space being occupied differently, the Prime Minister came with an idea of people's curfew to begin with. जनता के कर्फ्यू ने कमाल कर दिया, और इस जनता के कर्फ्यू ने ऐसी भावना जागृत की कि इस पेंडिमिक का i.e non discriminatory, it doesn't spare the rich, the poor, developed nations, developing nations और वहां हमने क्या नायब तरीका निकाला, और कहने के हम हमारी सांस्कृतिक विरासत पर विश्वास नहीं करते, ये जमीनी हकीकत है, कोविड के दौरान जहां एक ओर भारत की जनता को वक्सीनेशन दिया जा रहा था, हमारे देश ने इस परंपरा को निभाते हुए पड़ोसी देशों को जरूरतमंद देशों को वक्सीन मैत्री के माध्यम से कोवकसीन दी। और जो अनेक देशों के नेता मुझसे मिलते हैं, अपना आभार प्रकट करते हैं, कि ऐसे मौके पर आपने मदद की जिसको हम कभी भूल नहीं सकते।
I will tell my young friends to never fear the fear. Never be under stress and tension. Fear of the fear is the greatest drawback a human being can suffer. No one has ever succeeded in the first attempt. Most historical achievements, scientific discoveries, inventions have been after multiple efforts. Therefore, allow full leg working space for your talent. Be slow to judge and quick to understand. The level of intolerance we have these days, we are just not prepared to listen. We are not prepared to consider the other’s point of view. We are so intolerant of the other point of view. I appeal to my young friends don't have that approach at all. Keep an open mind with the people who disagree with you. The moment you will appreciate their stand, you will be wiser. That does not mean your stand is wrong, that does not mean you have to agree to their stand. Truth is most important but the real pursuit of truth is to engage with people who don't think the way you think और तभी जाकर ये अमृत निकलेगा, यदि हमने हमारी बात को जिद बना लिया, असहमति को विरोध बना लिया, हमने प्रजातांत्रिक मूल्यों को तिलांजलि दे दी, I pose a question to myself that पार्लियामेंट का क्या मतलब है, पार्लियामेंट का मतलब है कि देश भर के प्रतिनिधि वहां आते हैं , हर वर्ग का प्रतिनिधित्व करते हैं, उनका दायित्व है to engage in debate, dialogue, discussion, but certainly not for disturbance and disruption और इसका उपाय आप लोगों के पास है, वो बात कभी आगे नहीं बढ़ सकती जिसको जन समर्थन नहीं मिलता है, आप से आवाहन करूंगा कि जन आंदोलन बनाइए, उदाहरण हमारे सामने है, संविधान सभा जिन्होंने हमें यह संविधान दिया तीन साल तक वह चली, एक बार भी हल्ला नहीं हुआ, प्लेकार्ड नहीं दिखाए, वेल में नहीं आए, शालीनता से काम हुआ।
And never forget that the Constituent Assembly faced incredibly difficult, divisive, and contentious issues. But they sorted it out with a spirit of coordination, collaboration, and cooperation. Now that is missing. Temples of democracy have virtually been ravaged and I see a greater danger if temples of democracy- Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha and State Legislatures, if they will not be a platform of discussion, debate, dialogue, then the space can't be vacant, it will be occupied by others. And those forces will not be representative. Those forces will not be accountable. Those forces are not those that have taken an oath to uphold the Constitution. I therefore urge each one of you, to activate yourself individually to ensure that there is a narrative afloat indicating we need to engage for the work for which the public is paying and for which the Constitution has obligated us. I'm sure all the steps in that direction will be taken.
I come from a farmer's family. Your honourable Prime Minister was good enough to call me Kisan Putra indicating I'm not actively a farmer but my family is. What a moment of pride for me that 110 million farmers directly receive money in their account. So far, this amount has been Rs. 2,25,000 crore. I'm not focusing on the amount. I'm not in the capacity of the government. I am in the capacity of the farmer that the farmer is ready, technically equipped as a result of an inclusive banking mechanism to receive that amount and that is why this great revolution has taken place. What is happening now? There was a time when power corridors were infested with power brokers, middlemen. There would be people who would extra legally leverage decision making. They will determine how a particular policy will be formulated. We all know that these power corridors have been fully sanitized. The institution of power broker unfortunately, no longer exists for them and fortunately for the nation that is extinct.
Corruption is the greatest injustice for the common man. We need to have zero accommodation for corruption, and that is being seen. But the corrupt have got together. They are trying to find escape routes. They are trying to garner an agitation approach also. It is for the ordinary man, who is the greatest stakeholder in democracy and in the growth of the nation, to ensure that this system which has been evolved not only gets stabilized, but is on a different kind of path, that helps our nation at large.
Friends, I would leave a thought with you that emanated from Dr. B. R. Ambedkar and this is particularly for my young friends, boys and girls:
“That which does not make a man worthy, does not teach equality and morality, is not true education. True education protects humanity in the society, becomes the support of livelihood, teaches man the lesson of knowledge and equality. True education creates life in society”.
I urge you to think critically, read widely, adapt consistently and widen your horizons steadily as you go forward on your respective journeys.
Respect your teachers, respect your family members. Be a good citizen. Always keep the nation first. Keeping nation first is not optional, it is imperative, it is the only way.
Jai Bharat!
Thank You!